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Dummett on Abstract Objects (History of Analytic Philosophy)
by G. DukeThis historically-informed critical assessment of Dummett's account of abstract objects, examines in detail some of the Fregean presuppositions of Dummett's account whilst also engaging with phenomenological approaches and recent work on the problem of abstract entities.
Dummett on Analytical Philosophy (Philosophers in Depth)
by Bernhard WeissDummett argues that the aim of philosophy is the analysis of thought and that, with Frege, analytical philosophy learned that the route to the analysis of thought is the analysis of language. Here are bold and deep readings of the subject's history and character, which form the topic of this volume.
Dummheit: Eine Erfolgsgeschichte
by Emil KowalskiIn diesem Bändchen untersucht der Autor eine bestürzende Erkenntnis: Womöglich hat es das Abendland ausgerechnet wegen der Dummheit seiner Bewohner zu etwas gebracht. Wir nutzen laufend Geräte, ohne ihre Arbeitsweise zu erfassen. Wir treffen politische Entscheidungen, ohne ihre Tragweite zu ermessen. Die User haben ihre Dummheit verinnerlicht, sie finden sie normal. Wir nennen uns eine Wissensgesellschaft – zu Unrecht, denn wir haben uns nie an Fakten orientiert und Schlagworte stets dem Denken vorgezogen. Und trotzdem hat es der Westen zu einem historisch gesehen einmaligen Wohlstand gebracht. Und zu einem durchaus brauchbaren politischen System. Ist das kein Paradox? Besteht da nicht ein Widerspruch? Ein Verdacht beschleicht uns – vielleicht hat der Westen nicht trotz seiner Dummheit Erfolg gehabt, sondern gerade deshalb! Vielleicht hat es das Abendland darum so weit gebracht, weil es gelernt hat, mit der Ignoranz und Unvollkommenheit des Menschen zu rechnen. Als einzige, oder zumindest erste Hochkultur der Weltgeschichte.
Dummheit: Eine Erfolgsgeschichte
by Emil KowalskiIn diesem Essay untersucht der Autor eine bestürzende Erkenntnis. Wir nutzen laufend Geräte, ohne ihre Arbeitsweise zu erfassen. Wir treffen politische Entscheidungen, ohne ihre Tragweite zu ermessen. Wir nennen uns eine Wissensgesellschaft – zu Unrecht, denn wir haben uns nie an Fakten orientiert und Schlagworte stets dem Denken vorgezogen. Wir haben unsere Dummheit verinnerlicht, weil die moderne Zivilisation mit unserer Ignoranz und Unvollkommenheit rechnet. Trotz dieses Widersinns hat es der Westen zu einem historisch gesehen einmaligen Wohlstand gebracht. Und zu einem durchaus brauchbaren politischen System. Ist das kein Paradox? Emil Kowalski geht erkenntnistheoretische Probleme ohne den akademisch gebotenen Ernst an und verpackt sie stattdessen in ein satirisch-ironisches Narrativ. Und so erscheint Vieles in einem neuen Licht, von der Menschenwerdung der Affen und die Geburt der Demokratie in den USA über das Erfolgsgeheimnis des Abendlandes, Illusionen und Verschwörungstheorien bis hin zur Corona-Pandemie und Klimakrise.
Dump Philosophy: A Phenomenology of Devastation
by Michael MarderRanging across philosophy, theology, ecology, psychology, and art, in Dump Philosophy Michael Marder argues that the earth, along with everything that lives and thinks on it, is at an advanced stage of being converted into a dump for industrial output and its by-products feeding consumerism and its excesses. Every day, scientific studies, media reports, and first-hand accounts of the rapidly deteriorating state of the environment hit us with a growing and disconcerting force. Trends such as microplastics in water, airborne toxins, topsoil degradation, and dangerous levels of carbon dioxide have upset the delicate ecological balance that has until now been sustaining life on the planet. Marder's original treatise paints a portrait of the Anthropocene as a global dump which wreaks havoc, causing disease and degrading our sensation, perception, and thinking, so that nuance is lost and ideas are reduced to soundbites in chains of free association. Describing the dump's fundamental characteristics and its effects on the body and the mind, he contemplates wider physiological, social, economic, and environmental metabolisms in the age of dumping, as well as the role of philosophy caught in its crosshairs. While surveying the devastation that is the reality of the twenty-first century, the book provides a frightening and yet intellectually spellbinding glimpse of the future.
Dump Philosophy: A Phenomenology of Devastation
by Michael MarderRanging across philosophy, theology, ecology, psychology, and art, in Dump Philosophy Michael Marder argues that the earth, along with everything that lives and thinks on it, is at an advanced stage of being converted into a dump for industrial output and its by-products feeding consumerism and its excesses. Every day, scientific studies, media reports, and first-hand accounts of the rapidly deteriorating state of the environment hit us with a growing and disconcerting force. Trends such as microplastics in water, airborne toxins, topsoil degradation, and dangerous levels of carbon dioxide have upset the delicate ecological balance that has until now been sustaining life on the planet. Marder's original treatise paints a portrait of the Anthropocene as a global dump which wreaks havoc, causing disease and degrading our sensation, perception, and thinking, so that nuance is lost and ideas are reduced to soundbites in chains of free association. Describing the dump's fundamental characteristics and its effects on the body and the mind, he contemplates wider physiological, social, economic, and environmental metabolisms in the age of dumping, as well as the role of philosophy caught in its crosshairs. While surveying the devastation that is the reality of the twenty-first century, the book provides a frightening and yet intellectually spellbinding glimpse of the future.
Duncan Sandys and British Nuclear Policy-Making
by Lewis BettsThis book offers new perspectives on British nuclear policy-making at the height of the Cold War, arguing that the decisions taken by the British government during the 1950s and 1960s in pursuit of its nuclear ambitions cannot be properly understood without close reference to Duncan Sandys, and in particular the policy preferences that emerged from his experiences of the Second World War and his efforts leading Britain's campaign against the V-1 and V-2. Immersing himself in this campaign against unmanned weaponry, Sandys came to see ballistic missiles as the only guarantor of nuclear credibility in the post-war world, placing them at the centre of his strategic thinking and developing a sincerely-held and logically-consistent belief system which he carried with him through a succession of ministerial roles, allowing him to exert a previously undocumented level of influence on the nature of Britain's nuclear capabilities and its approach to the Cold War. This book shows the profound influence Sandys' personal belief system had on Britain's attempts to acquire a credible nuclear deterrent.
Duncan Sandys and the Informal Politics of Britain’s Late Decolonisation
by Peter BrookeThis book throws new light on the impact of informal ‘old boy’ networks on British decolonisation. Duncan Sandys was one of the leading Conservative politicians of the middle decades of twentieth-century Britain. He was also a key figure in the Harold Macmillan’s ‘Winds of Change’ policy of decolonisation, serving as Secretary for the Colonies and Commonwealth Relations from 1960 to 1964. When he lost office he fought strenuously to undermine the new Labour Government’s attempts to accelerate colonial withdrawal and improve race relations in Britain. Sandys developed important private business interests in Africa and intervened personally through both public and official channels on the question of Rhodesia, Commonwealth immigration and the ‘East of Suez’ withdrawal in the late 1960s. This book will appeal to students of decolonisation and twentieth-century British politics alike.
Duncan Sandys and the Informal Politics of Britain’s Late Decolonisation
by Peter BrookeThis book throws new light on the impact of informal ‘old boy’ networks on British decolonisation. Duncan Sandys was one of the leading Conservative politicians of the middle decades of twentieth-century Britain. He was also a key figure in the Harold Macmillan’s ‘Winds of Change’ policy of decolonisation, serving as Secretary for the Colonies and Commonwealth Relations from 1960 to 1964. When he lost office he fought strenuously to undermine the new Labour Government’s attempts to accelerate colonial withdrawal and improve race relations in Britain. Sandys developed important private business interests in Africa and intervened personally through both public and official channels on the question of Rhodesia, Commonwealth immigration and the ‘East of Suez’ withdrawal in the late 1960s. This book will appeal to students of decolonisation and twentieth-century British politics alike.
Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)
by William IrwinExplore the universe of Frank Herbert&’s Dune in all its philosophical richness &“He who controls the spice controls the universe.&” Frank Herbert&’s Dune saga is the epic story of Paul, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and heir to the massive fortune promised by the desert planet Arrakis and its vast reservoirs of a drug called &“spice.&” To control the spice, Paul and his mother Jessica, a devotee of the pseudo-religious Bene Gesserit order, must find their place in the culture of the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis. Paul must contend with both the devious rival House Harkonnen and the gargantuan desert sandworms—the source of the spice. The future of the Imperium depends upon one young man who will need to lead a new jihad to control the universe. Dune and Philosophy recruits 23 philosophers to sift wisdom from Frank Herbert&’s Duniverse, including the first of an expected series of films following Paul &“Muad&’Dib&” Atreides and his descendants, captivatingly brought to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. Part of the New Wave of science fiction of the 60s and 70s, Dune is characterized by literary experimentation with shifting styles, differing narrative points of view, and with the &“psychedelic&” culture of the period. In Dune, the long-term strategies and intricate plots of warring Great Houses are driven not just by Heighliner spacecraft and lasguns, but also by mind-expanding drugs, psychic powers, dystopian themes, race memories, and martial arts allowing control of the mind and the body. Substantial yet accessible chapters address philosophical questions including: Is it morally right to create a savior? Would interplanetary travel change human nature? What is the deeper meaning of desert ecologies? In conflict, how can you stay light years ahead of your opponents? Are there some drugs we would want to be addicted to? Does history repeat itself?Tens of thousands of years into an intergalactic future, can humans endure or will we sacrifice what is most important in our humanity for power, glory, religion and of course, the control of the spice? Dune and Philosophy sets an intellectual course through sand and stars to find out.
Dune and Philosophy: Minds, Monads, and Muad'Dib (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)
by William IrwinExplore the universe of Frank Herbert&’s Dune in all its philosophical richness &“He who controls the spice controls the universe.&” Frank Herbert&’s Dune saga is the epic story of Paul, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and heir to the massive fortune promised by the desert planet Arrakis and its vast reservoirs of a drug called &“spice.&” To control the spice, Paul and his mother Jessica, a devotee of the pseudo-religious Bene Gesserit order, must find their place in the culture of the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis. Paul must contend with both the devious rival House Harkonnen and the gargantuan desert sandworms—the source of the spice. The future of the Imperium depends upon one young man who will need to lead a new jihad to control the universe. Dune and Philosophy recruits 23 philosophers to sift wisdom from Frank Herbert&’s Duniverse, including the first of an expected series of films following Paul &“Muad&’Dib&” Atreides and his descendants, captivatingly brought to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve in 2021. Part of the New Wave of science fiction of the 60s and 70s, Dune is characterized by literary experimentation with shifting styles, differing narrative points of view, and with the &“psychedelic&” culture of the period. In Dune, the long-term strategies and intricate plots of warring Great Houses are driven not just by Heighliner spacecraft and lasguns, but also by mind-expanding drugs, psychic powers, dystopian themes, race memories, and martial arts allowing control of the mind and the body. Substantial yet accessible chapters address philosophical questions including: Is it morally right to create a savior? Would interplanetary travel change human nature? What is the deeper meaning of desert ecologies? In conflict, how can you stay light years ahead of your opponents? Are there some drugs we would want to be addicted to? Does history repeat itself?Tens of thousands of years into an intergalactic future, can humans endure or will we sacrifice what is most important in our humanity for power, glory, religion and of course, the control of the spice? Dune and Philosophy sets an intellectual course through sand and stars to find out.
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom Checks (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)
by William IrwinDo demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What’s the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells? Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of D&D can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more. Illustrates a wide variety of philosophical concepts and ideas that arise in Dungeons & Dragons gameplay and presents them in an accessible and entertaining manner Reveals how the strategies, tactics, improvisations, and role-play employed by D&D enthusiasts have startling parallels in the real world of philosophy Explores a wide range of philosophical topics, including the nature of free will, the metaphysics of personal identity, the morality of crafting fictions, sex and gender issues in tabletop gameplay, and friendship and collaborative storytelling Provides gamers with deep philosophical insights that can lead to a richer appreciation of D&D and any gaming experience
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Read and Gain Advantage on All Wisdom Checks (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)
by William IrwinDo demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What’s the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells? Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of D&D can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more. Illustrates a wide variety of philosophical concepts and ideas that arise in Dungeons & Dragons gameplay and presents them in an accessible and entertaining manner Reveals how the strategies, tactics, improvisations, and role-play employed by D&D enthusiasts have startling parallels in the real world of philosophy Explores a wide range of philosophical topics, including the nature of free will, the metaphysics of personal identity, the morality of crafting fictions, sex and gender issues in tabletop gameplay, and friendship and collaborative storytelling Provides gamers with deep philosophical insights that can lead to a richer appreciation of D&D and any gaming experience
The Dunhuang Grottoes and Global Education: Philosophical, Spiritual, Scientific, and Aesthetic Insights (Spirituality, Religion, and Education)
by Xu DiThis book analyzes the murals and texts of the Dunhuang Grottoes, one of the most famous sites of cultural heritage on the Silk Road in Northwest China, from an educational perspective. The Dunhuang Grottoes are well-known in the world for their stunning beauty and magnificence, but the teaching of Dunhuang advocates a philosophical perspective that cosmos, nature, and humanity are an interconnected whole, and that all elements function interactively according to universal and relational principles of continuity, cause-and-effect, spiritual connection, and enlightenment. Xu Di and volume contributors highlight the moral education and ethics found throughout the Dunhuang with numerous stories of the personal journeys and growth of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, discussing and analyzing these teachings, and their possible implications for modern education systems throughout China and the world today.
Duns Scotus (Great Medieval Thinkers)
by Richard CrossThis is an accessible introduction to the life and thought of John Duns Scotus (c. 1266--1308), the scholastic philosopher and theologian who came to be called the Subtle Doctor. A native of Scotland (as his name implies), Scotus became a Franciscan and taught in Oxford, Paris, and Cologne. In his writings he put Aristotelian thought to the service of Christian theology and was the founder of a school of scholasticism called Scotism, which was often opposed to the Thomism of the followers of Thomas Aquinas. In particular, Scotus is well known for his defense of contra-causal free will and logical possibility and for his account of individuation in terms of "haecceity" or "thisness." Cross offers a clear introductory account of the most significant aspects of Scotus's theological thought. Theology is here construed broadly to include Scotus's philosophical investigation of God's existence and attributes. In addition to providing a clear, though not always uncritical, outline of Scotus's positions, Cross aims to show how Scotus's theories fit into modern debates, particularly contemporary debates in philosophical theology, and to point out Scotus's historical significance in the development of theology.
Duns Scotus and the Problem of Universals (Continuum Studies in Philosophy)
by Todd BatesJohn Duns Scotus (d.1308), known as the 'subtle doctor' among medieval schoolmen, produced a formidable philosophical theology using and adapting an Aristotelian metaphysical framework. Critical of Thomas Aquinas' grand Summas, Scotus died before producing a final synthesis of his own. Indeed, his work, left in disarray for centuries, has only recently become available in an edited format. Contemporary metaphysics, taking up the problem of universals, treads on ground already well-worked by Scotus. Duns Scotus and the Problem of Universals shows how Scotus' treatment of the problem of universals is both coherent and, even by contemporary standards, cogent. Todd Bates recovers and sets out Scotus' understanding of the structure of material substance, reconstructs Scotus' arguments for universals and haecceities, and shows how Scotus' theory applies to the metaphysics of the Incarnation. This book makes an important contribution to a neglected but crucial area of Scotus scholarship.
Duration Calculus: A Formal Approach to Real-Time Systems (Monographs in Theoretical Computer Science. An EATCS Series)
by Chaochen Zhou Michael R. HansenA comprehensive introduction to interval logic and duration calculus for modelling, analysing and verifying real-time systems. The Duration Calculus (DC) represents a logical approach to formal design of real-time systems. In DC real numbers are used to model time and Boolean-valued (i.e. {0,1}-valued) functions over time to model states of real-time systems. The duration of a state in a time interval is the accumulated presence time of the state in the interval. DC extends interval logic to a calculus to specify and reason about properties of state durations. The text covers theory (completeness, decidability, undecidability, model-checking), results, as well as case studies (Deadline Driven Scheduler).
Dürer’s Knots: Early European Print and the Islamic East
by Susan DackermanAn important new examination of Islamic themes in the art of Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer&’s depictions of Muslim figures and subjects are considered by many to be among his most perplexing images. This confusion arises from the assumption that the artist and his northern European contemporaries regarded the Muslim Levant as an exotic faraway land inhabited by hostile adversaries, not a region of neighboring empires affiliated through political and mercantile networks. Susan Dackerman casts Dürer&’s art in an entirely new light, focusing on prints that portray cooperation between the Muslim and Christian worlds rather than conflict and war, enabling us to better understand early modern Europe through its visual culture.In this beautifully illustrated book, Dackerman provides new readings of three of the artist&’s most enigmatic print projects—Sea Monster, Knots, and Landscape with Cannon—situating them within historical contexts that reflect productive collaborations between Christendom and Islam, from the artistic and commercial to the ideological and political. Dackerman notes how Gutenberg&’s development of printing shares an inextricable relationship to the 1453 Ottoman siege of Constantinople. While Gutenberg&’s workshop produced a call to crusade and other publications antagonistic to the Muslim East, Dürer&’s prints, she shows, instead emphasize instances of affiliation between Christendom and Islam.A breathtaking work of scholarship, Dürer&’s Knots shows how the artist&’s prints of Muslim subjects give expression to the interconnectedness of Christian Europe and the Islamic East.
Durkheim & Critique
by Nicola MarcucciThis book investigates the relation between Durkheim’s sociology, Critical Theory, and the philosophy of social sciences. The book is organized in four sections: confronting Durkheim and other critical traditions; inquiring his social and critical ontology; interrogating the relation between social practices and justice; and discussing his relevance in contemporary politics and political theory. An international group of philosophers, sociologists, and critical theorists contribute to show Durkheim’s reflection as an important complement—or an alternative—to the Hegelian-Marxist and post-structuralist conceptions of social critique. In this way, the book intends to inaugurate a new reflection on social critique at the intersection between philosophy and sociological theory.
A Durkheimian Quest: Solidarity and the Sacred
by William Watts MillerDurkheim, in his very role as a ‘founding father’ of a new social science, sociology, has become like a figure in an old religious painting, enshrouded in myth and encrusted in layers of thick, impenetrable varnish. This book undertakes detailed, up-to-date investigations of Durkheim’s work in an effort to restore its freshness and reveal it as originally created. These investigations explore his particular ideas, within an overall narrative of his initial problematic search for solidarity, how it became a quest for the sacred and how, at the end of his life, he embarked on a project for a new great work on ethics. A theme running through this is his concern with a modern world in crisis and his hope in social and moral reform. Accordingly, the book concludes with a set of essays on modern times and on a crisis that Durkheim thought would pass but which now seems here to stay.
A Durkheimian Quest: Solidarity and the Sacred
by William Watts MillerDurkheim, in his very role as a ‘founding father’ of a new social science, sociology, has become like a figure in an old religious painting, enshrouded in myth and encrusted in layers of thick, impenetrable varnish. This book undertakes detailed, up-to-date investigations of Durkheim’s work in an effort to restore its freshness and reveal it as originally created. These investigations explore his particular ideas, within an overall narrative of his initial problematic search for solidarity, how it became a quest for the sacred and how, at the end of his life, he embarked on a project for a new great work on ethics. A theme running through this is his concern with a modern world in crisis and his hope in social and moral reform. Accordingly, the book concludes with a set of essays on modern times and on a crisis that Durkheim thought would pass but which now seems here to stay.
Dust (Object Lessons)
by Michael MarderObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. No matter how much you fight against it, dust pervades everything. It gathers in even layers, adapting to the contours of things and marking the passage of time. In itself, it is also a gathering place, a random community of what has been and what is yet to be, a catalog of traces and a set of promises: dead skin cells and plant pollen, hair and paper fibers, not to mention dust mites who make it their home. And so, dust blurs the boundaries between the living and the dead, plant and animal matter, the inside and the outside, you and the world ("for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return†?). This book treats one of the most mundane and familiar phenomena, showing how it can provide a key to thinking about existence, community, and justice today.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Dust (Object Lessons)
by Michael MarderObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. No matter how much you fight against it, dust pervades everything. It gathers in even layers, adapting to the contours of things and marking the passage of time. In itself, it is also a gathering place, a random community of what has been and what is yet to be, a catalog of traces and a set of promises: dead skin cells and plant pollen, hair and paper fibers, not to mention dust mites who make it their home. And so, dust blurs the boundaries between the living and the dead, plant and animal matter, the inside and the outside, you and the world (“for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”). This book treats one of the most mundane and familiar phenomena, showing how it can provide a key to thinking about existence, community, and justice today.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Dutch Government and Politics (Comparative Government and Politics)
by Rudy B. Andeweg Galen A. IrwinAlthough the Dutch political system has attracted considerable interest as an example of both consociational democracy and (neo-)corporatism, there have been few systematic studies of Dutch government and politics as a whole. This new book by two leading authorities provides an assessible introduction to Dutch Politics and brings the English-language literature on Dutch politics up to date by discussing the impact of many recent social and political changes.
Duties Regarding Nature: A Kantian Environmental Ethic (Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory)
by Toby SvobodaIn this book, Toby Svoboda develops and defends a Kantian environmental virtue ethic, challenging the widely-held view that Kant's moral philosophy has little to offer environmental ethics. On the contrary, Svoboda contends that on Kantian grounds, there is good moral reason to care about non-human organisms in their own right and to value their flourishing independently of human interests, since doing so is constitutive of certain (environmental) virtues. Svoboda argues that Kant’s account of indirect duties regarding nature can ground a compelling environmental ethic: the Kantian duty to develop morally virtuous dispositions strictly proscribes unnecessarily harming organisms, and it also gives us moral reason to act in ways that benefit such organisms. Svoboda’s account engages the recent literature on environmental virtue (including Rosalind Hursthouse, Philip Cafaro, Ronald Sandler, Thomas Hill, and Louke van Wensveen) and provides an original argument for an environmental ethic firmly rooted in Kant’s moral philosophy.